Agatha Christie And The Eastern World

In recent years, the domestic numerous troupes have turned Agatha’s detective novels into dramas and made a warm response, which has received a great reputation. September2010,120years after Agatha Christie’s birth. The "Queen of Reasoning" is still affects the generation after generation of readers with its unique glamour. Although she has won the general acceptation from readers, due to the popularity of detective novels Agatha’s works has long failed to get the attention what they deserves from academia. Nowadays, western critics has gradually classified detective novels into study, and run the corresponding courses of research and writing. Agatha Christie, the giants in the field of reasoning novels, has naturally been focused on as major object by researchers. They have tried to take advantage of structuralism, feminism and other tools to analyse and understand Agatha’s works from the aspects of characters, plots and dialogues.In contrast, the domestic academia is still keeps Agatha Christie outside the academic door, only a few research books about her works has published in past so many years. And, those books are unremarkable.In the process of reading Agatha’s autobiography, prose and novels, the author has noticed such a phenomenon:Agatha Chritie had been to the Orient several times, which influenced her later detective works and created a series of easterners.Some researchers made a judgement,according to the book "Come, Tell Me How You Live ",which is about the journey for archaeology in the Middle East, that Agatha sentimentally attached to the East and loved people over there. But, through the analysis and comparison between the Agatha’s creation of landscape and characters from eastern and western. The author hold a different opinion.Agatha’s trip to the East was mostly carried out in the Middle East. The Arabic relics had left the feeling of mystery and peace on Agatha. In meanwhile, today’s Middle East appears shabby and behind comparing to the West. Similarly, from the view of Agatha, the Easterners seems to be stupid, nasty and brutal.Observing carefully Agatha’s characters from western capitalist society, we will find that there are arrogant and cold Sir, egocentric actress, a witty detective and so on. They don’t look like at first sight, but they are all cunning and keen on pursuing elegant and luxurious lifestyle. In contrast, some of Agatha’s Oriental characters are pure and beautiful women, the other characters are stupid and lazy servants, and the rest are the elders who is greedy and hypocritical elders. These people are the mixture of dull and backward.From personality and habit to identity and class, such two teams are completely different. They represent the points and attitudes of Agatha about easterners and westerners. Although she had repeatedly expressed the affection of the East, but she still subconsciously reveals raspberry at Oriental in her writing about its backward status quo and the pride about the hight of the western civilization.Agatha’s understanding is always influenced by her identity, education as well as the mainstream consciousness in western society. As a white writer, she observes and defines "the Orient" from the angle of the colonists. She builds it into "the other" which is different from "the West" and inferior to it.